Anne Midgette meets Retna (aka Marquis Lewis), who created the sets for Washington National Opera’s new staging of the Verdi evergreen (co-produced with San Francisco Opera).
Tag: 09.01.17
Dakota Elders Decide Not To Burn Sam Durant’s Controversial ‘Scaffold’ – They’ll Bury It Instead
The sculpture, which references the hanging of 38 men during the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, was greeted with protests when it was installed at the Walker Art Center this summer and was quickly removed. Chief and spiritual leader Arvol Looking Horse dissuaded his fellows from following the original plan to burn the disassembled work.
Creating A Dance-Only TV Episode For HBO
The new Duplass brothers anthology series, Room 104, just aired an episode that included no spoken text – only dance. Dance Magazine talks with choreographer Dayna Hanson, who created both the storyline and the movement of the episode.
Restoration Of Chartres Cathedral Is As Transformative, And As Controversial, As That Of Sistine Chapel
“This is its most substantial renovation since Chartres was rebuilt between 1194 and 1225. In the intervening 800 years, the building has changed almost beyond recognition, as smoke from burning candles, oil lamps and fires darkened the walls, the statues and the exquisite stained glass. The restoration aims not only to clean and maintain the structure, but also to offer an insight into what the cathedral would have looked like in the 13th century. Its interior was designed to be a radiant vision, as close to heaven on earth as a pilgrim might come, although many modern visitors have responded more with shock than with awe.”
Comedian Shelley Berman, 92
“[He] was among a group of comedians who emerged in the 1950s and early 1960s, including Mort Sahl, Bob Newhart and Elaine May and Mike Nichols, who built their humor around topical storytelling rather than the traditional setup and punchline. His routines about the frustrations of modern life, including pieces about airlines or about the difficulty of dealing with businesses and other institutions, were wildly popular and made him one of the first comedians with best-selling recordings. … [He also] had a late-career resurgence playing Larry David’s dotty father on Curb Your Enthusiasm.”
The Stakes Are High For The Stratford Festival’s New Theatre
The theatre will become one of the most important cultural venues in the country. And the history of the Stratford Festival shows just how profoundly a place – and a building – can shape culture.
New Santa Monica Museum Is Merely The Latest In LA’s Museum Building Boom
“The free institution is the newest addition to Los Angeles’ rapidly expanding museum landscape. The Broad opened in late 2015 across the street from downtown’s Museum of Contemporary Art. The Main Museum, also downtown, debuted quietly in October. The Marciano Art Foundation opened this May in a former Masonic temple on Wilshire Boulevard near Koreatown. And the future looks even more culturally crowded: In Exposition Park, George Lucas’ $1-billion Museum of Narrative Art is aiming for a 2021 debut. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s $600-million makeover is scheduled to break ground next year. And that doesn’t include the relatively new Hauser & Wirth gallery, which is museum-like in its size and ambition, or the Hammer Museum, which this year announced its own expansion on the Westside.”
Record Nerds Pick Their Favorite Recording Labels Of The 20th Century
“There were over 140 different record labels suggested by those polled, with the majority of labels receiving less than five votes. Not surprisingly, some of the larger “corporate” labels dominated thanks to the quantity and quality of their products, as well as their ubiquitous distribution, radio play and advertising.”
Will Houston’s Brilliant Jazz Scene Survive The Water?
The catastrophic wake of Hurricane Harvey has stretched across East Texas and into Louisiana, taking lives and uprooting tens of thousands of others, while causing billions of dollars in damage and disruption. But the flooding in Houston has been a specific worry for that city’s jazz diaspora, which includes some of the most important artists of the present era.
Inside Houston’s Flooded Alley Theatre – “The Worst Possible Thing”
What starts off as a sensation of the nose and throat soon turns into a full-body experience — a dizzying mixture of rotting wood, rotting paper, infested carpet, swamp-soaked chairs, sewage, bacteria and humidity. The lobby had been entirely submerged in slimy, green-blue-black water since Sunday, allowing the walls and ceilings to soften and melt. Pinch your nose and you can still smell the rot through your mouth. “As a managing director, you always think of the worst possible thing that can happen,” Gladden says. “This is the worst possible thing.”